1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flushing apparatus for an inkjet printer.
2. Discussion of the Background
In an inkjet printer, during a standby time when an image printing or the like is not performed on a medium, which is a printing target, it may be occurred that ink is dried or its viscosity is increased in an inside of a nozzle of an inkjet head and, as a result, the nozzle is clogged. In order to prevent this problem, a flushing processing is performed in the inkjet printer, in other words, ink is periodically ejected from a nozzle of an inkjet head for preventing ink from being dried and for preventing its viscosity from being increased.
When a flushing processing is performed, so-called ink mist which is a fog state ink ejected from the nozzle is generated. The ink mist is easy to be scattered because its particle size is very small and thus the ink mist may stick to the medium, which is a printing target, the inkjet head, the inside of the inkjet printer and the like. Especially, when the mist sticks to a nozzle face of the inkjet head and the mist grows to a lump of ink, image failure such as nozzle's irregular ejection may occur.
In order to prevent this problem, a mechanism for collecting ink mist has been conventionally provided in an inkjet printer. For example, an inkjet printer described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-101609 is provided with an idle ejection receiving part having an adsorbing body for adsorbing ink and a fan. In the inkjet printer, when ink is ejected to the inside of the idle ejection receiving part in a flushing processing, the ejected ink is absorbed by the absorbing body and ink mist having been floated which is generated when the ink is ejected from the nozzle is sucked by the fan to make the ink mist stick to a rear side of the paper and, in this manner, scattering of the ink mist is restrained.